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Tougodo
Tougodo is a Japanese camera maker, active from 1930 to the early 1960s. History Prewar and wartime period The first Tougo (Tōgō) camera was released in 1930, and used the no-need-darkroom process. Date: Lewis, p.43, and this page by Nekosan. In the late 1930s, the company was called Tōgōdō Shashin Kōgyō K.K. (東郷堂写真工業 ) and made the Meisupii and Meikai side-by-side TLR cameras. Advertisements dated August 1937 and April 1940 reproduced in , p.99. The address in 1937 was Tōkyō, Kanda (東京・神田), and it was given as Tōkyō Kanda Tachō 2–9 (東京神田多町2–9) in 1940. Postwar, Toyohashi It is said that Tōgōdō was split in two parts after the war, one based in Toyohashi and the other based in Yamanashi. See this page by Nekosan. The best known company is that in Toyohashi. It was called Tōgōdō Seisakusho (東郷堂製作所) at the end of the 1940s, and released the Hobix camera using Bolta film in 1948. The address in 1949 was Chiyoda-ku Kanda Tsukasamachi 1–9 (千代田区神田司町1–9) in Tokyo. Advertisement dated January 1949 reproduced in , p.181. Around that time, the company was using a logo made of the letters "T" and "G" (the "G" is inside a fat "T") above the schema of a cemented doublet lens. Logo on the advertisement dated January 1949 reproduced in , p.181, and on some examples of the Semi Hobix. The company name was Tōgōdō Sangyō Y.K. (東郷堂有限会社) in 1952–5, sometimes given as Y.K. Tōgōdō (有限会社東郷堂) or simply Tōgōdō (東郷堂), and sometimes preceded by the city name Toyohashi (豊橋). "Tōgōdō Sangyō Y.K.": advertisements dated May and December 1952, May 1953, January, October and November 1955 reproduced in , pp.152, 182 and 205. "Toyohashi Y.K. Tōgōdō": advertisement dated February 1954 reproduced in , p.182. "Toyohashi Tōgōdō": advertisements dated June, July and August 1953 and August 1954 reproduced in , pp.166, 181 and 182. "Tōgōdō": advertisements dated April, June and September 1955, November 1956 and March 1957, reproduced in , pp.152, 165 and 259. The address was in Komoguchi, in the city of Toyohashi (豊橋市菰口町). Komoguchi-chō 30 (菰口町30): advertisements dated May and December 1952 reproduced in , p.182. Komoguchi-chō Tsubura 30 (菰口町津夫良30): advertisements dated June, July and August 1953 reproduced in , pp.166, 181 and 182. Komoguchi-chō 3–95 (菰口町3–95): advertisements dated February and August 1954, January, April, June, October and November 1955, June and November 1957 reproduced in , pp.152, 181, 182, 205, 259 and 260. The name had become Tōgōdō Kōki K.K. (東郷堂光機 ) in mid-1957. "Tōgōdō Kōki K.K.": advertisements dated June and November 1957 reproduced in , pp.259 and 260. The Toyohashi Tōgōdō company mainly used the brands Hit, Hobix, Hobiflex and Toyoca for the Japanese market. Many of the Tougodo products were also sold under various names for export, and the Toyocaflex 6×6 TLRs is notably known for its seemingly endless list of name variants. Postwar, Yamanashi The other Tōgōdō camera maker was called K.K. Tōgōdō ( 東郷堂) in 1953–4, and the plant was in Yamanashi (山梨). "K.K. Tōgōdō": advertisements dated January 1953 and May 1954 reproduced in , pp.140, 200 and 205. Plant in Yamanashi: advertisement dated May 1954 reproduced in , p.200. It made the Muse Flex TLR and Shinkoh Rabbit or Semi Rabbit folder, distributed by Shinkō Shōji. It also had an associated sales company called Tōgōdō Shōji K.K. (東郷堂商事 ) in 1954, whose address was Chiyoda-ku Kanda Sakuma-chō 3–21 (千代田区神田佐久間町3–21) in Tokyo, and which also advertised the Muse Flex. Advertisement dated May 1954, reproduced in , p.200. The Yamanashi company K.K. Tōgōdō revived the brand name Meikai for the Meikaiflex pseudo TLR in 1952. The name Meisupii was used again from 1955 by a company called Meikōsha (明興社); , p.370 (item 957). which is perhaps the successor of K.K. Tōgōdō. 120 film cameras * Semi Hobix (4.5×6 telescopic) * Hobiflex (6×6 TLR) * Metascoflex (6×6 TLR) * Toyocaflex (6×6 TLR) 127 film camera * Stereo Hit (3×4 stereo) * Toyoca-44, Haco-44, Kino-44, Laqon-44, Tower 44 (4×4 TLR) 17.5mm film camera * Hit 35mm film cameras 35mm folding * Toyoca B35, viewfinder only * Chest 35, name variant of the latter, distributed by Super Shashin-yōhin * Pigeon 35 V, rangefinder version of the Toyoca B35, distributed by Endō Shashin-yōhin * Pigeon 35 5B, as the latter with a bright-frame finder, distributed by Endō Shashin-yōhin 35mm stereo * Stereo Leader and Windsor Stereo 35mm TLR * Toyoca 35, Haco 35 and Hulda 35 No-need-darkroom cameras * Tougo * Mikasa-Go * Hit-Go Notes Bibliography * * Links In French: * Tougodo page at Collection G. Even's site In Japanese: * Tougodo cameras in Nekosan's website * Hobix B in a page of the AJCC website Category: Japanese camera makers